BIOCODE: The New Age of Genomics

DAWN FIELD & NEIL DAVIES
Book Number: 81540
Product format: Hardback

With DNA sequencing rapidly becoming faster and cheaper, more and more individuals are having their genomes sequenced, and even those of their pets. We are on the threshold of a new age - the age of genomics and although we have much to learn in terms of implications for traits and disease susceptibility, these developments have already opened up possibilities and ethical dilemmas we have never faced before. A single stray hair is enough for anyone to sequence your DNA but that's not all. Large-scale genomics is also opening up a much richer understanding of the natural world. The sheer scale and variety of microbial life, especially the myriad viruses even in a scoop of water, is proving far greater than we imagine. And the possibility of collating the genomes not just of one or a group of organisms, but of whole ecosystems and regions - ultimately the biocode of the whole planet - is one of the ambitious hopes expressed in this account. 'Genomics observatories' are already being set up, vast databanks to understand the complex workings of ecosystems. As we track changes in the community of microbes, they become crucial to our existence and health, and will give us unprecedented power to manipulate and influence ecosystems. We should use this knowledge wisely. 196pp, diagrams. An OUP publication.